Payback (not so much)
by Lokithenightfury
Summary: Arthur secretly stumbles upon Merlin attempting at reading his newfound spell book. Of course, he jumps to the wrong conclusion. (In which Merlin is innocent and Arthur tries so hard, but fails yet again)


Hiya! I apologise in advance because it seems that a glitch happened sometime when I edited the document and it was showing all the codes and random confusing sentences... A nice user pointed out my mistake so I fixed it :3 Without further ado, here's the (good) copy of my story. Thanks for checking it out! :)

* * *

Arthur Pendragon strode down the halls, making his way to the physician's chambers. It had only been a couple of days since his new manservant, Merlin, had saved his life from that vengeful witch and earned him the job. Arthur honestly didnt know what to think of that; it was certainly nice to be breathing, but the rude and sarcastic nature of Merlin made him wonder why he bothered to save him at all.

From day one, the mansevant had managed to humiliate him and stand up to his every insult. In a way, it was a nice change of pace from the usual bootlicker (not that he would ever admit it to Merlin's face).

This particular morning, Merlin was late for his duties (again) and Arthur was forced to fetch his servant himself in order to vent off some steam by using him as a nice moving (and complaining) target for knife throwing. The thought lifted his grumbly mood as he turned the last corner to the chambers.

Once there, he stood in front of the door, wondering whether to burst it open, or to sneak in and catch his servant doing something hopefully embarassing. Arthur decided on the second option, since he was in desperate need for some good material to throw in Merlin's face if (when) the younger should decide to embarass him in public again.

As that option begun to sound more and more appealing, the prince cracked open the door and peeked inside. Gaius was out for the day, so there would be no chance of scolding if he was caught.

Merlin was sitting on a bench near his room, his back turned from the door and seemingly concentrating on something on his lap.

Arthur grinned mischievously, opening the door a little further and about to reveal himself when he heard his manservant mumbling something. He stopped himself and listened, straining his ears for some possibly juicy and fun content from the part of his servant.

" _Q... Quodam carmine sanet..._ " Merlin mumbled. "Wait, that's not right..."

 _What on earth is he doing?_ Arthur wondered, frowning.

"How can reading this be so hard? Gaius can do it just fine." Merlin grumbled, closing the object on his lap, which Arthur realised was a book. "Why have I never thought of learning this in Ealdor?" He sighed.

 _Wait, was he trying to-_ Arthur's train of thought came to a sudden stop as he realized something. A near-evil grin spread across his face. _Oh... oh this is too good._

Arthur backed away and left swiftly, making his was to the training grounds. _This incomprehensible thing he was mumbling..._ Arthur thought. _This just proves something amazing: Merlin can't read!_

A gleeful spring was added to his step _._ _Of course it makes sense, living in such a poor and isolated village like Ealdor, it's obvious that Merlin doesn't know a basic thing like reading. Those words didn't even make sense, he must only be starting._

A plan started to form inside his head as he smirked. _Merlin acts so high and mighty... now it's his turn to be embarassed._

* * *

"Good grief..." Merlin muttered, carding a hand through his hair. He looked down at his closed spell book. "I know Gaius wants me to learn spells instead of doing everything by instinct, but these word are way different from the English language..."

He sighed and got up, suddenly remembering that he was supposed to be out training with Arthur. "Aw crap, guess I'll try to survive once again. Remember, this is all for destiny's sake..."

He put his book away in his room and left the chambers, making his way to the training ground unknowing of the plans Arthur had for him.

* * *

"Hey Merlin, over here!" Arthur yelled, accompanied by a couple of knights. "You guys have got to see this." He whispered to his friends as Merlin jogged up to them.

"Are we not training on the other side of the field usually?" Merlin asked, completely oblivious. "Unless you don't want to train anymore, which is fine by me."

Arthur ignored his servant's comment. "No Merlin, today I have another task for you, it's of the highest importance." He said, putting a hand on his manservant's shoulder.

Merlin frowned, confused. "O-okay..." He said with a nervous laugh. "What is it?"

"Well _Mer_ lin," Arthur started, retrieving his hand. "You know that I have an important speech to give in a few days, right?"

"Oh, the one for the Lord Beau-something or other, right?" Merlin answered.

"The one for the Lord Beauregard, yes." Arthur said in a mock exhasperated tone, earning a couple of chuckles from the knights beside him. "I have finished it, obviously not at the last minute, that would be most unorganized. Could you do me a favour and read it to me? I would love to hear my own glorious words from someone than myself." He said and handed over the scroll he brought along, barely hiding a grin.

"Erm... yeah, sure." Merlin said hesitantly, taking the scroll and unrolling it.

Arthur smiled in victory; watching Merlin fail at reading the words will be more than enough to humiliate him in front of himself and the knights, paying him back for all the embarassment he had caused.

He held his breath in anticipation as Merlin breathed in to start reading, letting out a little huff in victory as he saw the hesitation in his manservant's eyes.

He was about to expose Merlin's weakness and laugh it out with his knights, already picturing the servant's ears turning completely red, when his thoughts were interupted by Merlin speaking.

"My Lord Beauregard, albeit the previous and bloody battles between both of our beloved kingdoms, it is my pleasure to welcome you here in Camelot with open arms." Merlin read, the words easily rolling off his tongue.

Arthur's mouth promptly dropped open as Merlin continued. "It makes me most effervescent -impressive, didn't think you knew that word, though I don't think you used it in the right context- to think that all those long years of conflict have come to an end. There have been much hatred between our people-" Merlin paused and pointed to the word 'there', showing it to a shocked Arthur. "You wrote it with the wrong spelling, it should finish with 'ere' and not 'er'. And it should be 'has', not 'have'." But Arthur wasn't listening, too shocked by Merlin's show of unexpected intelligence.

Merlin then resumed his reading. "- but it is my hope that we'll put aside our differences and become great allies." He paused once more. "Shall I continue? This is getting kind of repetitive, maybe I should write your speech next time. Besides, your handwriting is so messy I had trouble reading it at first."

Arthur couldn't find the words to answer. The knights looked at the prince and one of them mumbled that they were going off to training before they left Arthur alone with Merlin.

The servant chuckled amusingly. "Why did you even bring an audience? Anyway, I'll go prepare stuff for training. Here, the scroll." Seeing that Arthur made no move to take it, Merlin sighed. "Fine, I'll take it with me and correct it before I give it back." Merlin then left, leaving Arthur alone.

The prince was still having a hard time processing what had just happened. After a few seconds, he blinked. _Wait... what?_

* * *

Hey, you're still reading! I hope this idea wasn't taken before, this fandom is way too gloriously vast. Now that I have this plot bunny out of my head, math awaits. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! :D


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